Personalized mobile messaging company Attentive raises $40M

The company will use the new funding to continue to grow out its team

2019 is expected to be the first year ever where Americans will spend more time on their mobile devices than on their televisions. At the same time, there has been an explosion in the use of chatbots, with some of the major tech companies deploying strategies that allow businesses to more easily communicate with their customers through their platforms. Messaging apps have overwhelmingly become the preferred way for consumers to get in touch with businesses. Mobile, and more specifically messaging, is where consumers increasingly are, and that is where marketers, and brands have to meet them. 

Attentive is a company that wants to own that channel, and make it one that not only works better for brands to engage with their customers, but for them to also make money off of. What the company offers is a personalized mobile messaging platform for ecommerce and retail businesses. 

On Monday the company revealed that it raised a $40 million round of funding led by Sequoia with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Eniac Ventures and NextView Ventures, along with new investors IVP and High Alpha. The company last raised a $13 million round when it came of stealth in February of last year. 

Founded in 2016 by the team from TapCommerce, a mobile app retargeting company that was acquired by Twitter in 2014 for a reported $100 million, the New York-based Attentive uses behavioral data to sends text messages to subscribers that are personalized to them; that can include notices about limited-time offers, loyalty program rewards, customized product recommendations, and cart abandonment reminders.

When it came out of stealth, Attentive was working with 50 commerce and retail customers including Boxed, Boll & Branch, AMOREPACIFIC, and Bliss; it is now working with over 400 retailers, including Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Coach, CB2, and Jack in the Box.

The company says it has 99 percent open rates, over 30 percent click-through rates and that its customers have seen more than 25x in ROI after using the platform. 

Attentive has grown its team by over 250 percent in just the last year, while expanding its headquarters in New York City and also establishing team members in cities around the country, includoing Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, and Atlanta. It says it plans to use the new funding to continue that team growth, hiring across all departments, but especially adding to its engineering and sales teams.

(Image source: attentivemobile.com)